Lex Nihil Novi - The Greatest Basketball Player Ever?

The Greatest Basketball Player Ever?






bob
MY NOTE:  Some hyperbole in the title but there's no doubt Walton was one of the best college basketball talents ever and one of the top NBA centers ever.  "The Best"?  Who cares?  Helluva game, though.  Imagine Kentucky going up against this...


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If I was picking my all time starting five (everyone is 27 years old and healthy) Bill Walton somehow would be on the team.......

Let's see:
Center is Wilt
Forward is Walton
Forward is Russell
Shooting guard is Bird
Floor general is Magic

Darn how the heck do I get MJ in the starting lineup?

bobc33 wrote:If I was picking my all time starting five (everyone is 27 years old and healthy) Bill Walton somehow would be on the team.......

Let's see:
 Center is Wilt
 Forward is Walton
 Forward is Russell
 Shooting guard is Bird
 Floor general is Magic

Darn how the heck do I get MJ in the starting lineup?

bob,

The first step would be to open the competition to players under 6'9" tall. Apparently you're a fan of big men. :-)


bob


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If Walton had half way decent feet and ankles he would be in the running for the greatest player ever.  But for about a season and two-thirds he played basketball about as well as human muscle, bone and nervous system allowed a human being to play.

Portland would probably have won multi titles and would be in the discussion for the greatest teams of all time had Walton stayed reasonably healthy.  They  were 50-10 the year after they won the title when Walton went down. Without him they finished 58-24.  

Walton did play in the playoffs after agreeing against his own judgment and principles to be injected with painkiller. But he reinjured his feet and it took him years and many surgeries before he played again at a diminished level.

It all ended for Portland in a mess of recriminations, accusations of conflict of interest of their medical staff and one very unhappy Walton who left Portland.  David Halberstam in "Breaks of the Game" describes all of this in his usual thorough and empathetic way.

Walton told Bill Simmons that he has never read "Breaks of the Game" though he started to six or seven times.  He just could never finish it because he found it all too depressing.

It's interesting to conjecture as to whether freedom from injuries should be factored into what makes a player "great."  As everyone knows, I care far more about the greatness of teams than of individual players.  It could be argued that, the less available a player is to his team, the less "great" he is.

If a player lacks the muscle structure or the imperviousness to broken bones or the fitness, or the durability; or, if he plays in a fashion (e.g. flopping on every drive) that gets great results but makes him susceptible to chronic injuries, he's less available to his team. I feel that makes him less great because I don't believe a player's greatness can remotely be evaluated fairly without incorporating the longevity of his value to his team(s).

Sam

I agree Sam. I had problems with Walton being named one of the 50 greatest players. Less than two healthy seasons in his prime does not a career make.

But I suppose it is a testament to just how great Bill Walton played during that brief period that a reasonable argument can be made that he should be included.

A young and injury free Walton was truly a wonder to behold.

Sloopjohnb


"A young and injury free Walton was truly a wonder to behold."

 And there have been many others in the world of sports that have had their brilliant youthful careers cut shot by injuries. All you can do is wonder - WHAT IF ?

swish

swish

Injuries or death.  Reggie.  Lenny.  Maurice Stokes.  And on and on.  And some of the problems keep getting worse.  Concussions are a biggie.

Sam

One guy that offered a tantalizing glimpse of what could have been was Arvydas Sabonis.
Bill Walton himself said that Sabonis was the best 18 year old basketball player he has ever seen.

Dino Radja, who played Euroball on the same team as Sabonis, said that before his leg injuries Sabonis had brute strength and could run like David Robinson. He would have been All-NBA for a decade.

By the time he hit the NBA his leg injuries and surgeries made him run like he had two prosthetic legs and he couldn't jump over a newspaper. But the guy could still play.

Some said he was like Bill Walton with the strength of Shaquille O'Neal but with three point range.